Talibans action casts further aspersions on Islam
Aizuddin DanianPublished: Mar 8, 2001 12:43 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
In response to Arbibi Ashoy's letter, [#1]Taliban right to destroy statues[/#], March 6), I have to point out that he got his facts wrong.
A CNN (Cable News Network) article on March 2 stated that the director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art was prompted to say he was willing to pay for a team to remove statues from Afghanistan.
It's very obvious that even though the Taliban do not feel that they have to protect the cultural heritage of human civilisation (note that the statues are not only religious icons of Buddhists, but, by virtue of their place in history, of relevance to all humanity), societies in the West do. And they don't just talk, but they even offer to help and it's a shame the Taliban have refused the offer. If they were truly civilised, they wouldn't even have waited for an offer to come, but would have found some way to donate the statues elsewhere rather than destroy them.
The problem with the Taliban's action is that it has far bigger repercussions than just the destruction of ancient statues. While Islam shouldn't be judged based on the actions of the few - the few in this case being the Taliban - but, unfortunately, that's exactly what will happen simply because negative action is the bread and butter of a large majority of media organisations. Reporting the sins of others sells newspapers, while reporting the opposite tends to warm the heart but gets boring when it is done all the time.
So as it is, the coverage of what the Taliban are doing in their country receives wide coverage, mostly damning to the Taliban government specifically, but by extension hurting the reputation of Islam as a whole. Maybe if there is any lesson in this, it teaches us, a predominantly Muslim nation, to be more careful and tolerant to our brothers and sisters of other religions - anything else and we won't be much better than the Taliban.
A CNN (Cable News Network) article on March 2 stated that the director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art was prompted to say he was willing to pay for a team to remove statues from Afghanistan.
It's very obvious that even though the Taliban do not feel that they have to protect the cultural heritage of human civilisation (note that the statues are not only religious icons of Buddhists, but, by virtue of their place in history, of relevance to all humanity), societies in the West do. And they don't just talk, but they even offer to help and it's a shame the Taliban have refused the offer. If they were truly civilised, they wouldn't even have waited for an offer to come, but would have found some way to donate the statues elsewhere rather than destroy them.
The problem with the Taliban's action is that it has far bigger repercussions than just the destruction of ancient statues. While Islam shouldn't be judged based on the actions of the few - the few in this case being the Taliban - but, unfortunately, that's exactly what will happen simply because negative action is the bread and butter of a large majority of media organisations. Reporting the sins of others sells newspapers, while reporting the opposite tends to warm the heart but gets boring when it is done all the time.
So as it is, the coverage of what the Taliban are doing in their country receives wide coverage, mostly damning to the Taliban government specifically, but by extension hurting the reputation of Islam as a whole. Maybe if there is any lesson in this, it teaches us, a predominantly Muslim nation, to be more careful and tolerant to our brothers and sisters of other religions - anything else and we won't be much better than the Taliban.
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